Robert Celt
New Member
Jim McMahon, 56, and one of the NFL's great quarterbacks, has something in common with my wife, who is 57. They both suffer from chronic, debilitating, unrelenting head pain due to concussions and other illnesses. And they both get maximum relief from using marijuana to control the pain.
My wife can't smoke so she uses it in the form of cannabis punch when we're visiting our kids in Colorado. It's illegal to use marijuana in South Dakota. People are afraid people who aren't in pain will use it for recreational purposes, never mind that thousands of South Dakotans are already using marijuana illegally for both pain control and "recreation."
She could be arrested in South Dakota for having ingested the drug in Colorado. Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, our former police chief, tried to fix that problem in 2013 but legislators,who don't know much about pain and pain control rejected his bill.
It turns out marijuana – and I mean THC – is a very effective, safe pain reliever, as far as we know. It's illegal to study it. Unless you've lived through chronic pain due to fibromyalgia, accidents, burn injuries or cancer or other medical horrors, you just don't get it. THC doesn't make people in pain high – it relieves the pain. Same with opioids. When the body is hurting, those drugs make life livable.
So Sen. Bruce Rampelberg's work to pass legislation this week to bring some sanity to our marijuana laws by allowing people like Jim McMahon and my wife to use it for pain is welcome news. As a society we are content to feed a river of opium-based drugs to people in pain, but we're overlooking the gift right in front of us.
Police in our major cities ticket and release people for simple possession of under an ounce of marijuana. An ounce is the equivalent of 30, 8-ounce, 100-mg bottles of the fruit punch available in Colorado, which contain the equivalent of 90 doses of medication.
We first found out about the pain controlling effects of marijuana from a prominent Nebraska/South Dakota rancher and his wife last year. After hearing about Audrey's situation, my friend's wife asked if she'd tried marijuana. Nope. It's illegal and she can't smoke. Well, she said, drink it, it works. She did. It does.
I'm not naïve. I know Rampelberg's chances are slim. But isn't it remarkable that he brought the legislation forward in the first place? He did it because a fellow senator's patient, a young boy, can only be treated with THC. He did it because Jim McMahon knows it works. He did it because he knows our aging population and people like my wife really need it.
It's time for South Dakota to do the right thing and pass Senate Bill 171. The people who want it recreationally are already using it. Law abiding people who need it for pain can't get it.
I'd like to somehow give every legislator one week of my wife's life. We'd legalize medical marijuana in 24 hours.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Legislation Is Needed In South Dakota
Author: Frank Carroll
Contact: Rapid City Journal
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Rapid City Journal
My wife can't smoke so she uses it in the form of cannabis punch when we're visiting our kids in Colorado. It's illegal to use marijuana in South Dakota. People are afraid people who aren't in pain will use it for recreational purposes, never mind that thousands of South Dakotans are already using marijuana illegally for both pain control and "recreation."
She could be arrested in South Dakota for having ingested the drug in Colorado. Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, our former police chief, tried to fix that problem in 2013 but legislators,who don't know much about pain and pain control rejected his bill.
It turns out marijuana – and I mean THC – is a very effective, safe pain reliever, as far as we know. It's illegal to study it. Unless you've lived through chronic pain due to fibromyalgia, accidents, burn injuries or cancer or other medical horrors, you just don't get it. THC doesn't make people in pain high – it relieves the pain. Same with opioids. When the body is hurting, those drugs make life livable.
So Sen. Bruce Rampelberg's work to pass legislation this week to bring some sanity to our marijuana laws by allowing people like Jim McMahon and my wife to use it for pain is welcome news. As a society we are content to feed a river of opium-based drugs to people in pain, but we're overlooking the gift right in front of us.
Police in our major cities ticket and release people for simple possession of under an ounce of marijuana. An ounce is the equivalent of 30, 8-ounce, 100-mg bottles of the fruit punch available in Colorado, which contain the equivalent of 90 doses of medication.
We first found out about the pain controlling effects of marijuana from a prominent Nebraska/South Dakota rancher and his wife last year. After hearing about Audrey's situation, my friend's wife asked if she'd tried marijuana. Nope. It's illegal and she can't smoke. Well, she said, drink it, it works. She did. It does.
I'm not naïve. I know Rampelberg's chances are slim. But isn't it remarkable that he brought the legislation forward in the first place? He did it because a fellow senator's patient, a young boy, can only be treated with THC. He did it because Jim McMahon knows it works. He did it because he knows our aging population and people like my wife really need it.
It's time for South Dakota to do the right thing and pass Senate Bill 171. The people who want it recreationally are already using it. Law abiding people who need it for pain can't get it.
I'd like to somehow give every legislator one week of my wife's life. We'd legalize medical marijuana in 24 hours.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Legislation Is Needed In South Dakota
Author: Frank Carroll
Contact: Rapid City Journal
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Rapid City Journal